Gavan Reilly: FG’s best hope is to embrace the cult of personality
And then there were 18. Heather Humphreys unexpected bombshell on Saturday evening – that she’s not contesting the general election, and will be leaving public life – means that literally half of the Fine Gael TDs elected in 2020 are not seeking reappointment. Two, Eoghan Murphy and Joe Carey, have gone for various reasons already.
It’s an extraordinary number to lose. It’s probably the reason why Simon Harris’s leadership of Fine Gael has been – for want of a better word – Simon-centric.
The Instagram-heavy approach to showcasing his work, even if superficial, is about cultivating a presidential style of politics. Much as the British election was Rishi versus Keir, this one will be Simon versus(-ish) Micheál versus Mary Lou. It’s deliberate: you will be less bothered about your local Fine Gael candidate being a novice, if it’s merely the means to getting more time under a Simon Harris government.
Ironically, it’s probably a lesson he learned from 2020 when Sinn Féin managed to surf the wave of McDonald’s own cult of personality. Being excluded from the first TV leaders’ debate became a badge of honour: we’re the true opposition, and Mary Lou is the agent of change. There were a couple of stories doing the rounds on polling day of people giving out to returning officers, not understanding that McDonald was not a candidate in their own constituencies, and demanding to know “how they could vote for Mary Lou”.
A lot of anti-government supporters have been out in force online in the last few days wondering why the media is still going to town on Sinn Féin and not exploring the reasons why so many Fine Gael TDs are bailing out anyway, On the face of it, it’s a reasonable question; what’s going so wrong for the Taoiseach’s own party if so many of them are bailing out? Humphreys move from Deputy Leader to retiree in six months is certainly striking.
All their reasons are different. Carey resigned from illness; John Paul Phelan is doing likewise, having suffered a near-fatal heart attack a few years ago. Fergus O’Dowd is 76. Richard Bruton is 71. Michael Ring is 70. David Stanton and Charlie Flanagan are 67. Humphreys is 64. Nobody can go on indefinitely.
Others are probably a bit jaded. 45-year-old Leo Varadkar’s second term as Taoiseach never included any of the same zeal as his first. Simon Coveney had served for 13 years in Cabinet and, if he no longer wanted to be Taoiseach, had no further ladders to climb. Even Damien English, who is only 46, has been a TD for almost half his life and had nine years as a junior minister.
Some of the younger retirees reveal one other factor: burnout. So many FG TDs were elected so young in 2011, that they’re now almost 14 years into a career that has drained them more than expected. One has told me Covid-19 was a real wake-up call: they had become so institutionalised by long commutes, the long days and the working weekends, that suddenly being required to stay home reiterated that not every job requires such kamikaze hours.